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Gilo or jilo originated in West Africa, and I have eaten it in Ghana and Senegal. It was taken by slaves to Brazil and Suriname. In Ghana they call it 'garden egg' and it is used interchangeably with eggplant. I have eaten it as a vegetable, stewed with onions and beef or shrimp. It is also used in okra soup. You can eat it as a side dish cooked in water, with some vinegar and sugar and maybe some hot peppers. Then you have it as a side dish, pickled, with mixed rice. In my taste it wasn't bitter and it was distinct.

Hi there, being from Brazil, I'm used to eating jiló! It can be bitter if not cooked properly, true, but it also depends on the quality of the produce - the same as eggplants.
A common way to eat them here is fried! I've never made it this way, but you can steam or boil them first, then deep fry (in the egg-flour mix of your choice). Another way is to sauté them with onions, garlic, oil, some tomato paste or canned tomatoes, adding some herbs at the end.
Hope this helped.

Ah! And for removing the bitter taste, try salting the pieces, let them rest then rinse (again, same as eggplants).
Or you can pickle them - in quarters or diced with coloured bell peppers, apparently turns out really good, plus it's a good way to preserve your big batch.

Thank you everyone! I found a recipe that stuffs the jilo with a mixture of vegetables and bacon. Think I'll give that a try! That will use 1/2 of what I have. Then I'll experiment with the rest this weekend. Will post the results...

I found this recipe on line: http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com/2010/10/recipe-spicy-stuffed-gilo-jilo-com.html?showComment=1314056976905#c2690423801121545951
The house smells fantastic! I used my handy-dandy apple corer to hollow them out, see photo. If you see them in your farmer's market, give them a try. Apparently they turn bright yellow/orange when ripe, mine were just starting to turn.

Okay, coming back after a couple of years... your big batch is probably long gone by now, but I ate a delicious recipe with jilo that is worth including in your repertoire! There's a thai restaurant here in Rio called My Thai and they prepare green curry with jilo, zucchini, onions and the protein of your choice (goes great with shitake mushrooms!). The sweetness from the zuchinnis counterbalances the jilo's bitter taste and and the ensemble marries well with all the spices. I replicated the recipe at home, using store bought green thai curry and adding steamed okras (over the jasmine rice pot), turned out beautiful!!! I made a pregnant woman very happy with it!!! Hope you like thai and give it a try!